Security Vulnerabilities in Mobile Systems

Mobile systems include the operating systems and applications on smartphones, tablets, smart watches, and wearables. The most popular operating system platforms for mobile systems are Apple iOS, Android, and Windows Mobile.

The vulnerabilities that are found on mobile systems include

Lack of robust resource access controls. History has shown us that some mobile OSs lack robust controls that govern which apps are permitted to access resources on the mobile device, including

Locally stored data

Contact list

Camera roll

Email messages

Location services

Camera

Microphone

Insufficient security screening of applications. Some mobile platform environments are quite good at screening out applications that contain security flaws or outright break the rules, but other platforms have more of an “anything goes” policy, apparently. The result is buyer beware: Your mobile app may be doing more than advertised.

In a managed corporate environment, the use of a mobile device management (MDM) system can mitigate many or all of these risks. For individual users, mitigation is up to individual users to do the right thing and use strong security settings.

Dummies Insider

Sign up for insider news on books, authors, discounts and more content created just for you.